“Music, words and images brought us closer to Mary and one another. We were of different theological outlooks – truly ecumenical. Great Joy!”

” A wonderful evening in honour of Our Lady. The singing was beautiful – the Armenian soloist, the Charpentier soloist and the singers with When Mary listened to God’s word.”

“As I spend these few days preparing for attendance at a Bishops Advisory Panel for selection to train for Priesthood, the evening was particularly special as I draw spiritual strength from Mary’s example and her prayers. Thoughts of the evening will no doubt help me through these coming days.”

“….absorbed in the wonder of the music, pictures and words.”

Those are just a few comments about our May evening, Mary: Inspiration and Challenge. It was, indeed, a beautiful event. Building on a tradition we have developed of drawing together words, images and music from different times and cultures this year our particular focus was on Mary from different parts of the world. We heard poetry and words from Guadeloupe, Lourdes, La Salette, Akita, Kibeho and more. Our images came from many different places and times.

We listened to music from Latin America, China, and Europe. Memorable music items included Tatevik Hakobyan from the Armenian Church singing an ancient Armenian Anthem in honour of Mary: Praise of Tiramaiar (by Astghik Stambultsyan), Sarah from St Chrysostom’s sang a beautiful piece by Charpentier (Sub Tuum Praesidium), we heard recordings of an exquisite anonymous Ave Maria sung in Chinese (click here to hear this) and a haunting anthem to Mary, Hanacpachap cussicuinin sung in the ancient Inca language, Quechua.

We were a diverse group of people from many different faith backgrounds , drawn together, challenged, and inspired by Mary.

We recommend such an evening on Mary for an ecumenical occasion.

As our evening closed we heard words from a poem Mary, Mary by the American poet, Alice Tarnowski:

O Lady of Guadalupe, Madonna of Czestochowa,Queen of Patriarchs, Mystical Rose,Do you sometimes long to cry out tothe complaining sons and daughters of Adam and Eve:‘Stop! Be silent! Hear me!I’m Miriam, the Jewish girl of NazarethWho said ‘Yes’ to life.’

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About stchrysostoms

St Chrysostom’s is an Anglican (Church of England) parish church in Manchester. We’re an inclusive, diverse and welcoming faith community where people of differing backgrounds make friends.
Find our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2364267899/